"Well it ain't my fault you two'd get yerselves killed! Anyway, we've got some company comin' our way. If you ain't comin' fast, suit yerselves, more squids to kill for me!"

"Yeah, on second thought, I'm sure I would have gotten away, but that's not really important right now. Can I trust you to cooperate in our tactical retreat, Buck?"

"Pfft. You call it tactical retreat, I call it runnin'! But you're the boss here, you can trust me to listen to your orders. Just hurry if you don't want 'em flyin' squids to catch you while yer out of yer ships. Even I'd have trouble handlin' 4 fighters on foot, though I can't say I've never been in similar situations before! So, J-5 it is."

Remembering something:

"Also, uh, did any of y'all happen to look one of 'em squids in the eye? Just warnin' ya again, don't do it! That Lemon fella did, and after that he started actin' queer, probably because they controlled his mind! He might even be dead by this point, driven to suicide against his own will by them evil squids!"

Start flying towards the rally point at J-5 at full speed (however pathetic it is)
Try not to fly too high, so that if I'm grounded I at least have a chance of survivingif an enemy fighter gets in range and starts actively attacking me
-Fry it with the MFMif no squid seems to be attacking me and we've reached the rally point
-Take a shot at one within range (if there are any), prioritizing those that are attacking an ally (also, DO NOT attack any one of them/draw their attention if I am completely alone at the rally point!)
Use the MFM max once

You really don't like this Brom guy and his half-baked plans. Your ideas are typically much better than his, and he's hardly a commander - he's just full of himself. But... he's the boss, so you're going to listen to his orders - for now.

...You hope none of them are mind-controlled.

Without wasting any time, you abandon the grav plant and shift your engines to full power, rocketing southwards over the rooftops... and at these speeds, it isn't long before you reach J-5 on the map. You feel pathetic, like you're retreating. A real soldier wouldn't retreat. This is no way to prove your combat merit! It's cowardice, is what it is. At least it's not your idea. A corner of your mind toys with the idea of leading the squad in the next mission, whatever that might be.

You sit and wait, and it isn't long until Brom arrives beside you, followed soon thereafter by Frank and a group of enemies. You sigh: they brought almost all of the squidships back here! There's no time to lose, though - you begin charging your Microwave Field Manipulator, preparing the calculations to fire. The four of them are attacking Miles, who neglected to leave.

When you hit the button, an explosion flashes in the distance as your target, thoroughly destroyed, crashes to the ground. One down, three to go - or, two, at this point: It seems Brom and Vynkor got one as well.

You're somewhat happy with the results. One of the ones that had been attacking Miles is now dead... but it wasn't fast enough. Miles never regrouped, and you don't see his CASKET in the sky anymore. You think they got him.

"What's this I see? This plan ain't workin' so well? If we only done listened to my plan, we'd already be inside, dammit!"

*sigh*
"Yes, it didn't work...But getting into the plant wouldn't have gotten us anywhere if those 4 fighters trashed our ships in the meantime."

*Contemplate trying to shoot one of the squids in the yard before mumbling*
"now to get off this damn roof before those 4...fliers come to shit on my head..."

Loosen the knot
get off the roof with help of the wire as fast as possible
If the knot resists opening
-cut it with a sharp-tipped bolt
-If cutting the knot doesn't work
((--Flail around with arms and legs in failure-induced panic))
--prepare a sticky bolt
--stick it onto the side of my suit
--convincingly play dead
When off the roof
get into the CASKET and fly to the rally-point at I-5
Hack the first enemy fighter coming after us and set their engines to 0%
Shoot another enemy fighter with the MFM
If hit seriously
-land near cover
-get out and behind cover

Leaning back, you loosen the knot by sticking a bolt into it, and the cable comes loose from around you; you slide down the side of the building and leap onto the ground. As soon as you finish, you run to your CASKET, climb in, and get situated - barely in time. You can hear the roar of the enemy fighters' jets approaching. Without piddling around, you take off and fly to the rally point as fast as you can.

...Of course, this isn't quite fast enough. A loud explosion and a sharp shake of the vehicle damages your concentration, followed by blaring of various alarms in your cockpit. Apparently, something happened to an engine - but beyond that, you don't know. It doesn't sound good, whatever it is, but at least you're still flying.

Meanwhile, Vynkor and Miles are both under attack. You decide to get a little bit of help, and make an attempt to hack the nearest enemy fighter, setting their engines to 0% so it'll crash into the ground and explode, because that's how engines work, right?

Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to be how their computers work. While you're trying to hack them, something from them hacks you, completely locking down all the controls and screens in your cockpit. Your ship's main computer silently powers off.

It seems we are in an agreement with our plan, so let's do this!
Let them know that Brom Keegan and his team are not to be trifled with!

Run to my CASKET and get in.
Once I'm in my ship, take off and fly to the spot marked on my map
After I'm joined by at least three of my squad mates, target the nearest enemy (unarmed civilians do not count) and fire at it once with my railgun.
Inform my squad mates of the squid I've chosen to shoot at.
If said enemy is still alive, attempt to contact them by radio.
"You have just had the honor of being attacked by the great Brom Keegan! The master assassin and legendary hero of Ermhelm!
I'm sorry to say that you don't have much time left in this life, but I have good news! Before you depart on your way to the afterlife, I am willing to give you my autograph!"

IF my squad mates attack one of the fighters before I do, I will instead fire upon the enemy they're targeting.
If the enemy they've targeted goes down before I get a chance to fire, target and shoot the closest fighter.

After firing, return to the aforementioned spot and try to avoid getting shot.
If by some chance the fighters are all dead, move over the gravplant and scan the outside of the building to determine its composition.

Abandoning your plans (and Frank) you run to your CASKET and leap over the side in a hurry, sliding into your seat and quickly punching the buttons to close the canopy and repressurize. The second you're ready, you lift off, headed for the rendezvous point. Buck is already well ahead of you, and the enemies are almost upon you... it's going to be a close shave.

After you reach the rendezvous point, you turn around just in time to see the four fighters descend upon Miles and Vynkor. Miles very rapidly falls to their fire, tumbling to the ground as smoke curls from his imploded cockpit. Vynkor hasn't even taken off yet. "Vynka, we've had enough noble sacrifices on this mission - I'd prefer not to add you to the list just yet."

"Me? We'd be adding you first," Vynka retorts.

You first? That's preposterous. You're the Legendary Assassin of Ernhelm, after all! No, you'll show her who would really die first. You take aim at one of the enemies close to her - the nearest, specifically - and fire.

It's an absolutely perfect shot, completely worthy of the practiced assassin you are: the inside of the cockpit splatters with blue blood as your railgun round punches directly through the alien. Vynka, to her credit, quickly follows it up with a railgun round of her own - and the vehicle dives toward the ground as Vynka flees.

Buck manages to down one of the vehicles as well. That's two, versus your one. That's not too bad. Miles will be remembered. You'll prepare a short mention of him in your speech following the mission, perhaps... or maybe fire a bullet in his name. Nothing flashy, just something that suits the amount of effort he put in.

I return to my CASKET and get in (and seal/pressurize).
I then bandage my wounds and patch over the holes in my suit.
I lift off and fire once on the nearest fighter.
Finally, I bugger off to the rendezvous point in J5.

Clutching your arm, you head back to your CASKET, wincing at every step. Your chest is bad enough, but your arm is wracked with stabbing pain, and bleeding profusely. You'll have to fix this up... and as soon as you're back in your cockpit, canopy sealed behind you, you re-pressurize and pull out your first aid kit, laying the contents out in your lap.

You notice your hands are starting to shake. Glancing downwards at your lap, you see your white-and-orange Tartarus Inc. REKT suit spattered with blood - your own blood. You cough; your chest burns with pain. You've spilled a lot of blood already, and you're spilling more every second you wait - it's trickling down your arm.

Trying to stay calm, you take the bandages and wrap them around your arm, trying to patch it properly, but with one arm out of commission, you're forced to try to hold some things with your teeth while you tie everything down. It becomes a game of skill... a game that you ultimately fail at. The bandages are in place, but with only one arm free, you have a hard time getting them to stick; as soon as you let go, they slip and slide back down your arm - by this time already thoroughly soaked with blood.

Your chest is somewhat easier to patch: you wad up some bandages, and press them against the wound on your lower ribcage - this stings, and you grind your teeth, but take solace in the fact that you're not particularly large-chested. You follow this up by sealing the hole with a suit patch, and just like that, it's done. It's only enough to keep you from bleeding, though - you'll probably need some real work done after you get back.

Surveying your handiwork, you don't notice much except a silvery patch and, as usual, a generous abundance of blood that you'd much rather not see there. There's not much that can be done about that, though, so you lift off of the ground - just as the four hiltorel dual-cockpit fighters race in, firing. In horror, you watch, unable to do anything as several shots hit Miles' ship - two of them in the cockpit. His ship drops from view, and you hear a crash, quiet from the thinner air, but with the damage it did to his cockpit, you don't really have to wonder: Miles is gone.

"Vynka," Broom's voice booms over the comms, "We've had enough noble sacrifices on this mission - I'd prefer not to add you to the list just yet."

"Me? We'd be adding you first," you retort, aiming your ship toward the nearest Hiltorel fighter as it draws near - and you fire. With a loud THUNK, your ship's primary weapon files a railgun round at incredible velocities, crashing directly through the nearest's sidepod and possibly killing the pilot. The ship nosedives, spiralling towards the ground, but you're a little distracted at the moment: They've turned their attention onto you. As you spin your ship around, high-tailing it for the rendezvous point, the last two of them get close on your tail, firing barrages at you. You manage to predict their line of fire and evade, but only just barely. You don't know how long you can keep this up.

To make matters worse, you're starting to feel tired... faint of breath, and dizzy. You're losing a lot of blood. It won't be much longer now if you can't get your arm patched up. You'll have to think of something, assuming you can evade the people trying to kill you.

This all seems to echo what happened to you before you came to Tartarus Inc... although in that instance, you were allowed to surrender. Here, you don't think that's even an option.

Burritos. That's what you want. Burritos. Warm, tasty, fresh... in a bowl. A big bowl. A Burrito Bowl. A bowl of burritos. You're almost drooling. Burritos. You want those burritos. You want them NOW.

Your hunger has been gnawing at you more and more over the course of the mission. You're only twenty minutes in. It shouldn't be that bad already, right? ...Right? But you're hungry! To hell with the fake burrito rations, they were terrible! To hell with Anelle too! ... Actually, no, maybe not Anelle, but certainly everything else!

And Bob! To hell with Bob!

...Unless Bob has burritos, of course, and is willing to share. Then all is forgiven!

As you sit in your cockpit, blissfully unaware of the events going on around you - a scenario begins to form in your mind: A great world made of burritos. You envision yourself floating on soft, delicate burrito roll clouds, above seas of burrito sauce... wouldn't that be amazing? You can almost taste the lettuce trees near the cheese swamps, beneath the icy sour cream peaks... my god, this is amazing! You need this planet! It seems almost -

Your thoughts are interrupted by a laser cutting its way across your canopy. Looking down in horror, you realize, first, that you're not on Burrito World, and second, that your hand - formerly on the controls - has been severed from the rest of your arm, partway past the wrist. While you're gaping in horror, a few more plasma shots hit - then a few more - something bursts behind the cockpit with an explosion that - for a split second - shatters your eardrums, before everything goes black.

I know you won't be back for a while, and I have to keep things moving... and you were right in the middle of the focused fire. Sorry, man :\ Nothing personal - you're just one guy of ten. If they decide to rescue your body, I'll say you're not actually dead dead - just in a coma.

I press myself against my rock, the only thing keeping me from dying on this fukcing shithole of a planet, as I curl in on myself a bit. I start hyperventilating, my quick breaths fogging up my faceplate. Here I am, the big fukcing hero! All I wanted was to make my father proud. Now look at me! I never signed on to die on some alien hellhole! I was supposed to stop pirates, be the good guy...now I'm going to join all my friends...

I try to resist it, but I'm too weak to stop myself from falling into my memories of that dark day. Just like I was too weak to save my squad. Just like I'm too weak to save this squad... I tremble violently as the pained faces of my dead comrades fill my mind, and I imagine the faces of my new squadmates joining them in death... I went to sleep in a hell of pain and sorrow, and now I've woken back up to the same thing all over again.

"Caleb!" someone shouts. You're not sure if it's even real.

You see gunfire - plasma shots hit the ground around you, scorching the surface of this lifeless rock. You scoot closer to your cover, shaking your head and gripping your gun tightly. You expect someone to rush around the corner at any moment. Terrified, you glance around the corner as though expecting it, and you catch sight of one of the enemies hiding behind a rock nearby, not thirty meters away - they've gotten closer. You duck back as they loose a barrage at your head - their grav bombs shake the earth, nearly pulling you out of cover - you grab tight to your rock and hold tight, gun in your hand, ready to fire.

The sky seems to have darkened. You're back on Anba. The stars above you twinkle deathlessly - a cold, forsaking, naked gaze upon the corpses of your fallen allies. You can't be the last one.

"Reinforcements!" someone shouts. "We need reinforcements! WE NEED REINFORCEMENTS!" But then this voice, too, is quieted.

The ground is steeped with blood, boiling away into the empty sky.

To your left, a terrorist runs past you, completely missing the fact that you're there. You almost think you see - hear - sense that more follow. The rest of your squad tried to retreat - the terrorists chase them down and slaughter them like so many cattle. You hear their screams echoing over the comms as the terrorists torture the last few, and there's nothing you can do...

But then, suddenly, something breaks you out of your vision: a dark outline against the horizon: a lone CASKET coming in. Reinforcements! The skies brighten to their true pink-orange as the mask of your nightmare lifts - you hear your real, REKT squadmates talking over the comms. For a moment there, you thought you heard Cho's voice.

You find you've gotten to your feet, exultant - maybe you won't die after all! Then, glancing to your right, you see the nearby squid that had been hiding behind a rock is now riddled with bullets from Bob's minigun. That guy really came through! You hear the enemy shouting behind you - but it's not shouts of bravery. Are the tides really turning? You're almost afraid to believe it, but... if the Nemesis sent reinforcements, you might actually stand a chance!

((You've recovered from your panic - and pretty fast too. This is brought about by the fact that Squad Beta's situation has dramatically improved, and of course, your good roleplaying (in case I've never mentioned it before, I do give roleplay bonuses to things, particularly rolls I just never mention it because I don't want people to start feeling entitled to it). Anyway, Caleb is now ready to go. Try not to let him get shot. He could still spiral back down into despair. He's stressed, but he's gonna be okay. Probably.))

sneak to the nearest enemy ship and hide behind it.
Spin up my minigun
get from behind the ship an mow down enemy 1 and 7 with my minigun.
get back into cover behind the ship:
- periodically look to see if any enemies are aproaching me, if that's the case shoot them with my semi-auto pistol ((max 1))
- if an enemy comes into melee range whack them with my crowbar ((max 1))

All the enemies are distracted. Now's a good time to move. You look at Jimmy.

Jimmy nods. That's the signal.

Hunched down, you sneak stealthily across the terrain, your massive, hulking frame definitely totally invisible to all enemies in the area. There's no way they see you! Jimmy assures you that it's true: you are undetectable.

Indeed, your bear seems to be correct. You give him a hug when you reach the landed enemy ship; he deserves it. Then, placing him aside (and giving him a loving pat on the head), you pull out your minigun, rev it up, and let loose a barrage of metallic death in the direction of your enemies!!! Your first target has tried to sneak forwards, and seems to be planning on attacking Caleb - you make sure to put a stop to this by filling him full of bullets! ...the enemy, not Caleb, of course. The squid doesn't even have a chance to get out of the way. With that one down, you step aside and swing it toward the enemies on your left - specifically, the mean-looking one dressed in armor. Your bullets trace a rapid trail of dust and sparks across the terrain as you reposition the heavy, spinning barrels...

But just as your bullets cross over the commander, she vanishes... just like that. Completely gone. She's not even there. Glancing around in confusion, you try to figure out where she went, but by this time the other squids in the area have already figured out where you are. You're not hidden anymore. As they fire the first few shots of plasma back at you, you duck back into cover behind the ship, lifting your fingers from the minigun's trigger.

But where did she go?

You glance back out for a second look, almost getting your head taken off by a plasma round, and in that brief glance, realize that the commander is right back where she was before - except now her stasis bubble is broken.

"What the hell?" Jimmy whispers.

As you watch, she leaves her perilous position and takes cover behind a nearby ship, eyeing you menacingly.

'Watch out from air cannons from squids , maybe try land behind nacelle.'
'No climb on nacelle though, unless you want to be Lemon juice like Lemons.'

'Tell Mr. SCAMPS-Boss that bob says hello and that Lemons is lemon juice.'

"Greetings, Bob. I am a Doctor of Theology ((proud voice)). I hope to be of use in defeating the Enemy. Understood no climbing on the nacelle."

"Nemesis control, Cho, Ishmael here. Approaching the nacelle. Squad Beta leader asked me to pass SCAMPS his hello and tell him that 'Lemons is lemon juice', whatever that is. All the relevant telemetry from the squad should be re-transmitted to you by now, anyway."

Fly to the nacelle.
Keep low to the ground and use terrain features to avoid AA fire.
Land next to the Gearhead's and Saoirse's CASKETs.
IF the enemy #8 is still there and alive,
hit him with my ship's tentacle, HARD.
Make an FSM's punishment-related one-liner.
ELSE proceed to the next action.
Get out of the CASKET (following the correct 'helmet on, depressurise, get out' protocol),
AND get into cover.
Electro-amp electricity from the AA turret to the squid #6.
IF any enemy comes close
hit him with the Quantum lash
get into cover.
and tell the enemy the FSM's punishment is coming for him and that he should run (using my Charismatic amp!)

"Nemesis control, Cho, Ishmael here," you radio out, as you fly towards your objective. "Approaching the nacelle. Squad Beta leader asked me to pass SCAMPS his hello and tell him that 'Lemons is lemon juice', whatever that is. All the relevant telemetry from the squad should be re-transmitted to you by now, anyway."

"Oh my god, that's awful!" Cho exclaims. "And I didn't even get a chance to get to know him... but it's all right, we still have a full ten people on our squads, and SCAMPS says he's going to let me send an eleventh!! They're in the final stages of getting her out of cryo now, isn't that exciting?! Maybe they'll let me command a full platoon of 30! I've never done that before!" She says more, but the static interferes, and then dies out completely as you go out of range.

As you fly down the last rocky mountainside, the nacelle looms before you. In the distance, you can make out the shapes of a few tiny CASKETs, with what looks like they might be people nearby; brief flashes of plasma illuminate the terrain beneath the pink-and-orange sky. It won't be long now.

~~~

You arrive right in the middle of combat. Two of the AA turrets near the nacelle swivel toward you, preparing to fire, but you don't give them a chance. You stay low, hugging the ground, and set down near the two CASKETs you see parked by a ridge, right next to a ravine separating them from the nacelle. You saw two crashed CASKETs down in the ravine, and you don't want to end up like them.

As fast as possible, you put your helmet on, make sure it's secure, shut off atmo and hit the button to open the canopy. It splits down the middle at an invisible seam, shifting to the side, and you jump out with your gear - PSI pack on your back, backpack, and your quantum lash. As soon as your feet hit the dusty earth, you sprint forwards into cover, taking stock of the situation. Gearhead and Saoirse's CASKETs are on the left, with Saoirse apparently fighting one of the squids farther on that side. Beyond that, you can't actually tell much: a thick dust cloud is obscuring your view.

Looking at one of the enemies closest to the nacelle, you focus and attack him with your electro amp, mentally pulling electricity from the AA turret and zapping him: the sparks arc out with a distant CRACK, buzzing as they etch trails across the ground. The hiltorel soldier stumbles for a moment, sways, and falls to his knees, before shakily getting back to his feet. He seems thoroughly fried - he's not going to put up much of a challenge now.

This is actually going pretty well so far. Truly, the FSM is with you on this day.

I quickly use my electro amp to try and knock out blinksquid, attempting not to damage the teleporter.

If that fails, and blinksquid is still captured or heading to our caskets again... then it's time to do some fun!
I use my grav amp to launch myself in the air, as pictured below. However if blinksquid were suddenly at the other side of the caskets, I jump to that side instead.

While soaring through the air majestically, like an eagle piloting a blimp, I shout "Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
When near my intended position I use the grav amp to slow my fall so I land lightly instead of breaking a leg.
Then I take out Spoon ((note to Tal: quickdraw slot)) and go whack teleportsquid with it once. After all, we have to demonstrate we are a civilised and advanced species to aliens, don't we?
While not attacking, I use Spoon for cover/parrying.

If however the first attack succeeds, I instead throw up a dust curtain here:

and dash between covers, and then to the cover where blinksquid is, and get behind it. ((as pictured above))
Once there, I use my electro amp to disable his/her/its/whatever gravity belt, make sure squid is really knocked out (or dead), dismiss the field, and steal whatever the blink thing is.
Then I try to figure out how it works. ((please +2 exotic don't fail me now))
If I manage to do so, I equip it, otherwise I put it in my backpack.
And while I'm at it, I steal its other weapons as well and put them in my backpack.
Finally, I stasis a remaining squid.

If neither of these conditions apply (because, for example, blinksquid blinked way away):
I stasis an unstasised squid, dismissing the empty shield blinksquid was in.
I throw lightning bolts at 2 of the squids, trying to knock them out (preferably commandersquid, blinksquid, or any squid out of cover)

As quickly as you can, you raise a hand towards the nearby hiltorel combatant, and a stream of lightning sparks from your fingertips - but this misses, etching a dark scorchmark across the surface of the rocks. Meanwhile, Gearhead tosses up a wall of dust between you and the blinksquid, hoping to shield you from any fire, should he move. He seems to have forgotten you're holding him in stasis... but that's okay. You have other plans: You're going to launch yourself into the air using your grav amp, and then use it a second time to make sure you don't die when you land. Using this, you should be able to get within melee range of this guy, and totally knock him out.

A few shots fly past, and you scoot back into cover, preparing yourself... and then, just before you make your move, a few plasma bolts stream past, nearly hitting Gearhead - and it came from the complete opposite direction! Although Gearhead's dust wall has made it impossible to see your stasis field at the moment, you have a feeling it's Mr. Blinky again. After all, who else could it be? And he has something you desperately want: whatever piece of gear can make him blink.

You're not entirely sure where to point your hands here, but it seems to work anyway - the field envelops you, and your sense of "up" disappears; suddenly you're upside down, falling from the ceiling of a world that seems wholly alien - the rocks about you fall as well, floating beside you. This lasts only for an instant as you re-enter Nanyej's normal gravity field, flying ten to fifteen meters above the surface. Lasers arc wildly through the dust about you as the hiltorel try to get a solid shot on your position, but you've reached the top of your arc and are already descending - and Mr. Blinksquid, free of his stasis field, is standing below you. "Wheeeeeeeee!" you shout, greatly enjoying the whole maneuver. You hear shouts in "hiltorelese", or whatever they call their language - Blinksquid looks up at you just in time to see you fall, and fires a few shots shots with his plasma pistol, nearly grazing your left hip.

A second time, you create a gravity pocket - now, directly beneath you - and land with finesse close to the Blinksquid. With a thought, your battlestaff is already in your hands, spinning and twirling - you deal one strike, then another - but both miss; the Blinksquid slips away from each of your attacks, following up your misses with a few plasma shots of his own at what's almost point-blank - but you manage to catch them with the end of your battlestaff, deflecting them entirely.

As the dust from your grav-field landing swirls about, you stare each other off, both realizing you're equally matched. The Blinksquid's eyes - black and unfeeling - remind you of a mission you had in VR, just before your recent, rude reawakening. Dusty desert world? Melee combat? You've been here before... but this time, there's only one.

Cautiously, the Blinksquid pulls a swingblade from his back, above his gravbelt - a somewhat primitive outer-world weapon known for being particularly good in combat against agile enemies. "Pela ang o il nada tsal kuhing... eneno tsal lefa yabo," the squid says. Watching his mouth move as he speaks is mildly discomforting - it looks like part of his face was reconstructed at some point, and whoever patched it up did a horrific job. You get the feeling he's trash-talking you - he's waving the swingblade around menacingly, so he's clearly not looking for a peaceful solution to this.

throw up a dustscreen for Saoirse against telesquidmicrowave fry telesquid

You toss up a dust screen for Saoirse, blocking all line of sight between you and Saoirse, and the Blinksquid. Then, you immediately attempt to toast-fry the guy with your amps, but you're not entirely sure you hit... until a few moments later, when you're quite sure you didn't hit: a few plasma rounds hit the boulder just off your left shoulder as Mr. Blinksquid gets into cover directly behind you.

Saoirse doesn't waste any time: she launches herself up into the air and lands on the far side of the rocks, toward the CASKETs. Such a foolish meatbag. You recall with some satisfaction how you managed to affix a previous meatbag's face to their ass, and wonder if you ought to do the same with Saoirse at some point. She can certainly be annoying, but... on the other hand, at least she likes body modifications. That's certainly a plus in her favor.

Meanwhile, the new guy, Ishmael, arrives. It's nice that someone else is here. Bob is across the way, and, from the looks of it, doing just fine at mowing down enemies. Things are just reaching a turning point... provided they hold.

Of course, that's not likely to happen. You duck back into cover as several plasma shots from two different directions race towards your face. A rapid-flashing laser beam traces a few shots through the air, again very narrowly missing you. You decide it might be good to keep your head down for now. After all, you have weapons that completely ignore solid objects. Why risk sticking out your neck?

Alright, enough fukcing panicking. We might just pull this off! Well, as long as I pull my weight. Time to show these tentacled bastards how we did things back on Dashta!

...however, I'd also like to avoid dying. There's no way I can leave this cover without getting shot yet again. I decide to try and do something from here anyway- otherwise i'm pretty much useless. We've got a nacelle to take back.

"Thanks, Bob, you saved my ass there!"

Leaning out of cover, I fire my plasma rifle at Enemy #6 a maximum of three times, ducking back into cover and staying there if I get shot at in return.

"Miles has taken the brunt of the attack for us, and we are all indebted to him.
Oh how I hate losing disciples. He will surely leave a hole in our hearts that can never be mended.
But mourn now we cannot! We have a mission to complete! And Brom Keegan always finishes his missions on time!
If given the opportunity, we can retrieve his body on the way back to the Nemesis. Frank! Vynka! Got any duct tape?

Ooh that was fun I should do that again!
Ah, but maybe not now. Too bad.

I try to remember if I know Hiltorelesianish or whatever.
"Well, if we're gonna do weird talking... Go mbeire an diabhal leis thú!" (( * ))
I keep a close eye on him, waiting for him to make the first move, keeping Spoon ready to parry.
If they give the impression they're gonna blink away or attack me:
If they start to attack, I first parry.
I sweep the end of my staff through the dust to throw sand in their eyes,
follow up with two quick hits holding Spoon in the middle,
try to knock away the blade
and finish with an end-forward thrust in the stomach area. Actually, do Hiltorel have stomaches there? Hmm.
If I notice them attacking during this, I pause my attacks for a sec to parry.
If they blinks away and I don't see where to, quickly spin around to check they didn't blink behind me.

If at this point Mr Blinky is knocked out or dead,
I drag them behind cover with me, steal the teleport thingy and try to figure out how to use it.
If I do, I equip it, otherwise I sigh sadly and put it in my backpack.
I steal his other weapons, put them in my backpack as well.
If he's not dead, I make sure Blinky has air and stuff (use the airshield I have if needed) and dump him in my cargo pod.

(( * may the devil take you ))

Last edited by Dinosawer on Sat Feb 17, 2018 1:58 pm, edited 6 times in total.

Praise the FSM, the shot came true. It is truly happiness to serve Him and be guided by Him!

I can not see anything beyond this dust! As it was said in The Book of Fearsome Pirate Pete, 'Oi be sayin' we wait and see if it goes away'. But, I saw my allies there, and I saw our enemies, and I shall do what The Book of Disco says: 'Help thy fellow miget in times of peril, as they will help you in your time of need'!

Run through the dust screen towards where I last saw my squad-mates,
BUT stay in cover
AND evade incoming fire if necessary.
Move all the way to the end of the ridge that serves as a cover for our CASKETs.

IF the squid Saoirse is fighting is still there,
Use my lash to yank his weapon out of his hands,
AND use charismatic amp to tell him to surrender to the FSM's tender mercy.

IF enemies are subdued or not there,
Use my electricity amp to repeat the AA turret-into-your-face trick on Squid #5.

Last edited by outlander on Sat Feb 17, 2018 11:41 am, edited 2 times in total.

"Do you think you'll be able to fight with your computer hacked or should I step in and protect you while you make repairs?"

*dry voice*

"Given that the field manipulator relies heavily on some sophisticated calculations to fry the thing in front of me instead of my head...yes, i need a moment of cover to restart my computer before i can fight again. It shouldn't take all that long though..."

Unless you expect me to do it all by hand while wiggling my toes at the enemy for that...

"Keeping in mind Frank's apparent computer failure and Vynka's injuries, I have formulated a plan that should give you all a reasonable chance of survival.
Vykna, Buck and I will move in and attack the approaching enemies, while Frank falls back to repair his computer.
Frank, if you can make an appearance at the party before all of our lovely guests have departed, it would be appreciated.
After we take out the fighters, we can land a little ways away from the grav plant and Frank can help patch Vynka up, and repair his engines.

Now I know what you're thinking! The plan is rather dull, and simply doesn't hold a candle to my greatness.
It could no doubt use a bit a of polishing before we're ready to move in. So! Questions, comments and suggestions are all welcome!"